A wishlist that drives buying
Members request the toys they wish the library had, and families add their vote. Your next order follows real demand instead of a committee guessing — the demand signals are right there when you plan.
Comparison
ToyHive vs Lend Engine
Lend Engine is capable software for every kind of lending library, run by good people for good reasons. ToyHive does one thing instead: toy libraries in Australia and New Zealand, phone-first, with the toy-library specifics — piece counting, stocktake, recalls, rosters, WWCC, grants — built in rather than configured on. Here is the honest comparison, including where Lend Engine is still ahead.
Breadth versus depth
The real difference is not a feature row — it is focus. Lend Engine serves tool libraries, camera hire, Libraries of Things and toy libraries with one general model: items, custom fields, opening-hour slots. ToyHive is built by a toy library volunteer for toy libraries only, so the things a toy library does every session — counting pieces at return, chasing missing bits, stocktake days, volunteer rosters, working-with- children checks, grant acquittals, ACCC recalls — are first-class features, not customisations.
Pricing models differ too: Lend Engine prices by collection size, with item and contact caps per plan; ToyHive charges per active member household with no caps on toys. For a typical thousand-toy library the comparison is worth two minutes on our pricing page next to your current bill.
Why libraries switch
The features libraries switch for
Not a longer feature list — the handful of things volunteers tell us actually change their Saturday and take real work off a committee.
Ask for a report in plain English
Type “which toys got borrowed most in the last six months?” and AI turns it into the chart. Under it sits a full builder — pick measures, filters and grouping — plus dashboards you can save and have emailed to the committee. Not a fixed list of canned reports.
AI fills in the toy record
Scan the barcode on the box and the name, manufacturer, age range, pieces and warnings populate themselves — or forward a supplier invoice and ToyHive drafts every intake line. Adding a toy is seconds, not a twenty-minute form.
One catalogue, shared by every library
Add a toy once and every ToyHive library gets the record — piece list, age range, warnings and photos included. The first library to catalogue a new toy does the work once; everyone after pays nothing. A genuine network effect.
Grant numbers, ready to acquit
Point-in-time financial membership, concession share and volunteer hours come out as a report, not a spreadsheet night before the acquittal is due. The numbers a toy library actually gets asked for.
Recalls watched for you
ACCC and Consumer NZ recalls are matched against what your library actually holds and flagged at the desk, so an unsafe toy does not quietly stay on the shelf.
Working-with-children, handled
WWCC credential tracking with expiry alerts and roster blocking, a policies store (child safety, toy safety) published to staff, members or the public, and a Code of Conduct every volunteer accepts before they can operate the app.
Permissions that fit a real committee
Built-in roles plus a custom-role and permission editor, so a Treasurer, a loans volunteer and a committee member each see exactly what they should — with an anti-escalation guard so nobody can grant themselves more than they hold.
Lend a volunteer more rights for one session
A session leader can lift a helper’s permissions for that session only — Returns, or Loans & returns, or Stocktake — capped to what the leader holds and auto-expiring when the session ends. No standing admin access handed out at a busy desk.
A roster that runs itself
One-click term rosters with a preview before you commit, one-tap accept/decline by email, verified attendance, a fairness view so load spreads evenly, and late-cancel handling that promotes a waiting helper or broadcasts an emergency-cover call.
Count pieces when the session allows
On a busy return desk you can defer the piece count. ToyHive keeps the window of every loan between the last complete check and the one that finds a piece missing — so when something turns up short you can pinpoint which borrow lost it, instead of guessing.
Memberships that renew themselves
Members join, renew and pay by card online, with opt-in auto-renewal and automatic receipts — no committee member chasing renewals at the desk. Short-term bonds are charged, auto-released and refunded to the card without a manual ledger.
Children’s data, encrypted
Sensitive personal information, including children’s records, is encrypted at the application layer, with PostgreSQL row-level security as a second wall between libraries. The data a toy library holds about families is treated like it matters.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Lend Engine | ToyHive |
|---|---|---|
| Loans, returns and renewals | Yes | Yes |
| Members, memberships and feesConfigurable types, durations and automated charges. | Yes | Yes |
| Item and member capsHow many toys and families you may have before paying more. | 100–10,000 by plan (Free–US$50/mo) | None — priced per active household |
| Piece lists and missing-piece trackingCounting pieces at return; automatic grace period and fees. | Component notes on items | Yes |
| StocktakeScan the shelves; reconcile what is actually there. | Not verified | Yes |
| Shared catalogue across librariesAdd a toy once; every library on the platform gets the record. | No | Yes |
| Safety recall monitoringACCC and Consumer NZ recalls matched against your inventory. | Not verified | Yes |
| Membership auto-renewalRecurring card billing so memberships never silently lapse. | On their roadmap (2024 user guide) | Stripe auto-renewal built in |
| Ways to take money at the desk | Stripe card payments (online only, no terminals) | Card, cash, EFTPOS and bank transfer |
| Volunteer rosteringSessions, self-nomination, attendance, shift handovers. | Add-on — “contact sales” | Included on every plan |
| Automated reminder emailsDue-soon, overdue, membership expiry. | Paid plans (Starter and up) | Included on every plan |
| Reports and dashboards | Dashboard + CSV report exports | Ask in plain English (AI) + build-your-own dashboards, scheduled |
| Grant reporting and acquittalsTrack a grant, attribute spending, print the acquittal pack. | Not verified | Yes |
| Working-with-children credential trackingWWCC expiry alerts, roster blocking, Code of Conduct acceptance. | Not verified | Yes |
| Reservations | Calendar bookings with pickup slots | Holds queue with pickup deadlines |
| Custom fields on items and members | Free-form fields (Plus plan and up) | Curated toy attribute library (not free-form) |
| Postal loans and self-serve lockers | Yes | No |
| Member site languages | 9 languages | English (built for AU/NZ) |
| Setup and migration help | Paid packages (£200–£800) | Free, guided |
Compiled from Lend Engine’s published feature pages, pricing page and User Guide 2024.1 (surveyed August 2026). A dash means we could not confirm it either way from published material — not that the feature is missing. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Where Lend Engine is still ahead
No comparison is worth reading if it only lists the author’s wins. These are real.
- Lend Engine has calendar-based reservations: members pick a pickup slot and a return slot from the library’s opening hours, with buffer time between loans. ToyHive has a holds queue with pickup deadlines, but not date-targeted bookings.
- Lend Engine supports genuinely unstaffed lending — self-serve checkout, electronic lockers and smart padlocks, and postal/delivery loans. ToyHive is built around staffed sessions.
- Lend Engine has free-form custom fields on items and contacts (Plus plan and up). ToyHive has a curated attribute library instead — structured, but not yours to extend freely.
- Lend Engine has a public REST API (Plus plan and up) and a member site in nine languages. ToyHive has neither today.
- Lend Engine sells paid event tickets online. ToyHive publishes events with calendar feeds but has no ticketing.
- Lend Engine has run for over a decade, serves every kind of lending library worldwide — tool libraries, Libraries of Things, sling and nappy libraries — and has a free tier for very small collections. It is volunteer-run and donates its profits to climate charities, which is genuinely admirable.
Moving from Lend Engine
Migration is ToyHive’s speciality — we built self-service importers for SeTLS and MiBase because moving is the step that actually stops a library switching. We haven’t built a one-click Lend Engine importer yet, so for now it works the hands-on way: contact us, and we’ll bring your members, toys and loan history across with you — free. You get a dry run to inspect before anything goes live, and your Lend Engine account stays untouched until you’re happy.